Computer Games Magazine, published by the media division of theglobe.com, today announced a three-month partnership with game publisher NCsoft – North America to offer the massively multiplayer online game City of Villains free to new subscribers of the publication along with 30 days of free play.

City of Villains, released in October 2005, is the standalone sequel to the hit massively multiplayer online PC game City of Heroes. In less than six months, it has already received high marks and praise from the gaming community. New subscribers will receive all the benefits of the standard edition of the game including:

* A CD-ROM version of City of Villains
* One exclusive HeroClix figure
* One exclusive City of Heroes collector card from Alderac Entertainment Group
* Two-sided poster featuring: Villains vs. Heroes battle scene and Rogue Isles ancient map

“This partnership helps us give our newsstand readers an incentive to subscribe to Computer Games Magazine,” said Jayson Dubin, Vice President and Publisher of Computer Games Magazine. “We are confident that gamers will be thrilled to not only receive an immensely popular MMO game but also a year’s worth of sophisticated gaming editorial, features, and reviews.”

This is the second time that Computer Games Magazine has partnered with NCsoft to give consumers more access to the latest news from the gaming industry as well as an opportunity to play some of the hottest online games firsthand.

In 2004, the companies teamed up to provide access to the then beta version of Guild Wars, another extremely well-received online role-playing game. The magazine provided an access code to readers that they were able to use to login online and play an advance copy of the game. Computer Games Magazine and NCsoft felt it was valuable partnership, enabling both companies to reach the gaming community in new ways.

“This promotion is a great opportunity for more people to have a chance to try City of Villains and experience some of the great new content we’ve added since it launched,” said Dorothy Ferguson, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for NCsoft’s North American business. “Playing the bad guy has never been so fun and if you’re a new subscriber to Computer Games Magazine, this is the perfect chance to see for yourself.”